Unforeseen
by Lee Savage
Summary: Mandarin's fate was sealed by his actions, but can fate be changed? If so, how will this affect what has been preordained for others?
1. Prologue

Unforeseen

A flurry of disoriented noises reached Mandarin's pained circuits with the speed of a flying train. The screeching and blowing of jets...the thudding of approaching footsteps...the rapid beating of his captors' hearts...They all seemed to consume him and fuel his temper. When they all seemed to fade to a stop, his mouth showed the faint lines of a snarl. Grinding his canines, he dared to open his eyes for a single second.

The first thing he saw was the ground. It was rough and desolate of life. Then, he noticed that the sky was a lime green commingled with pale yellow streaks. The sun was flat against the dust-colored horizon and it was only a tad brighter than the surrounding background. The air was unusually still and clear. While slowly turning his aching head, he felt a light foot press sternly down against the side of his head. It restricted his movement as he felt metal snap on his arms. Mandarin let loose a low growl. He could've easily crushed his enemies, but those fools had done something to his circuitry...

"Don't move." The rough bark had come from above, and he felt several tense digits claw at his fur and they held him in place tightly. Mandarin felt his boiling blood thud at the surface of his skin. If only...

_"From what you have told us, we would be glad to take this traitorous beast into our custody."_ Mandarin felt like flying out of his brothers' clutches and ripping out the throat of the being who had said that. This couldn't be possible...

"What are you going to do to him?" A shaky voice broke in.

_"He shall remain in our intergalactic prison where he will be put into stasis. From there, his mind will never awaken." _

_  
_  
"As long as we never see his mug again." A voice from behind spat with pure venom in every hiss. Murmurs and silent nods showed agreement, but Mandarin did not have to see their reactions to know what went on inside the _true _traitors' minds. They were blind, ignorant, and incompetent. When he first suggested his plans, he was only rewarded with pretty metaphors from his second-in-command, Antauri, and stern and even amused comments from the others. Mandarin was born first, and his vision and insight were more advanced than their simple intellect. His teammates were clueless to the treachery of the humans. What sort of life was a one where you bowed down to your inferiors? The citizens of Shuggazoom were ingrates, and treated the monkeys like they were no more sophisticated than the primitive creatures they once were. The humans were mere bugs continuously splattering against windshields and finding several ways to bring trouble onto themselves. They had no order, but his team wouldn't hear of it.

"What if it doesn't work?" A softer, more feminine voice than the rest quavered. Mandarin would've cackled if his insides weren't burning. Yes...fear. That was what the orange simian cherished. If you couldn't earn the respect of your inferiors, then it was always best to make them fear you to gain submission. Once, his teammates would've done anything for their leader, maybe even commit murder. Their petty ways and insignificant beliefs turned them to betrayal. Those fools should've realized that treason would only lead to their downfall. Mandarin could've defeated each of his family in battle, but unlike most existence, the monkeys _learned. _He would've been proud if it were under different circumstances.

_Oh yes dear Nova, you have every right to fear me. _She was so weak and pathetic. He despised her the most. Oh...the nerve...In the end, this was truly _her_ doing. Nova had made the team suspicious of their great leader's motives. In the end, he would always hate her the most in his heart. Weren't females supposed to be timid? Weren't they supposed to be the most loyal, the most sacrificing? Yet...she had deceived the team in thinking that his motives were faulty and corrupt.

His _sister _would be the first to be in true agony.

They were fools! Fools! They were idiotic enough to betray him and raise his ire. Something deep inside flickered. Mandarin was the one who was betrayed...who was cheated from great fortune.

_Oohhh...they would...__**will **__pay dearly._

The orange cyborg's body shifted, and suddenly, he found himself gazing at several broken reflections. Several armored guards were clutching the powerless robot by the wrist. Any attempts of escape would be fruitless. Then Mandarin stared into the five pairs of hard eyes. That _look. _It was a look that said, "Let go, it's over. We don't care anymore. You're done."

The ex-leader went rabid. Snarling and struggling, Mandarin let out a series of horrible, furious shrieks that echoed on the far away mesas and plateaus. He caught a glimpse of the second-in-command's eyes. It was a response to Mandarin's inner pledges to vengeance...

_**No.**_

"WHY you ingrates?!" Mandarin showed his fangs. "You traitors! How could you do this? Do you think you can be rid of me that easily? I'm the strongest, smartest, and most cunning! All of you are ants compared to **my **will!!"

Some of the monkeys sank back from the simian's malice, but Sprx gave an equally chilling glare, and Antauri straightened his back in grim authority. Antauri acted first, while his other friend seemed the most likely to pounce on the insane leader. The black primate stepped forward and raised his metallic hand. In a heartbeat he slowly put it down and set it calmly on his chest. Shaking his head, the amber orbs met hateful, bloody pupils.

"I apologize to the leader you once were, my friend. " Antauri closed his eyes briefly. "But he is no more. Perhaps...you will be able to redeem yourself, but for now, your lust for power must be quarantined." The other monkeys looked on, and the guards' grip squeezed and pierced Mandarin's arms. The orange being spat. _"I apologize to the leader you once were?"_

"Idiot! You think you can buy me with pretty words? I _will _return, and you shall pay for your ignorance!" Antauri just looked. It was a wise and powerful look, yet casual.

"Hey!" To everyone's surprise, Sprx stomped through. Without attempting to conceal his anger, the red primate began to shake and pointed accusingly at the ex-leader. "You lied to us when we _trusted _you! You hurt us, and you expect us to believe this garbage that you see everything? You don't know anything! You're a traitor and a _freak." _With a solemn look so strange for the comedian, Sprx stepped back. His teammates had their arms crossed and they looked straight at the orange traitor, piercing his skull with knowledgeable and scornful looks of definite agreement. There was absolutely no regret. Only Antauri stood with a calm, maybe even sullen gaze. He blankly nodded.

"Perhaps our paths will meet again."

"I used to think we were friends." A disappointed Otto whispered. Mandarin may go away, and his tyranny too, but there would always be memories.

"_Path?" _Mandarin repeated in mockery, and in somewhat disbelief. "_PATH?!"_

Finally, one of the guards spoke in a stilt tone. "_Let's go. The sooner the better." _They started to drag Mandarin away.

"**NO!!**" Outraged, the simian writhed. "You...you buffoons! Do you not know what you are dealing with? You are dealing with fate! _**I **_will make up my own fate!"

Antauri replied sternly, "Mandarin. The prophe--"

"**DO NOT **speak to me about a prophecy. Oh, the Fates are clever. You _all_ are against me." An insane smile came upon his lips. "You have misjudged me. You have ignored and mistreated one of your own...and I will gain retribution. I will come back. Antauri, you listen to the prophecy that somebody will save this decrepit city in a blaze of light, so this is your excuse? I _will _return. MARK MY **WORDS**!"

Sprx rolled his eyes. "Consider them marked." And with that, the entire team twisted in the opposite direction and flew on their jet packs. Their brother's soul was now in the fate of the prison's justice system.

_"Come you." _The drone stung Mandarin's antennae. Exhausted and over powered, they carried him to the Hostile Outlaw Observation Prison (HOOP) which surprisingly, was ring-shaped, but Mandarin didn't see. He had his eyes shut tightly as scenes played in his head. The team, his _brothers,_ laughing with joy and Nova being playful and excited. They had been through a lot, and it meant something to Mandarin to a certain degree. But they were laughing at _him _now, and they could never erase _their mistakes. _They would never listen, and that made the lost primate smile more. The three last words Mandarin muttered were their own separate rasps. They were the last he would say before the "eternal" stasis.

"Mark...my...words..."

**(Revised: 10/04/08)**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

* * *

Chiro yawns, and none of the other acolytes stir. Must be nice, real nifty, this sleep thing.

When he sits up off the mat, pressed against the floor, something makes a popping noise. The boy grumbles.

Somebody makes a raucous _shh!_

"Yeah, yeah," Chiro whispers, stretching his legs out from under his body; he lays down again, arms splayed and brushing against somebody else's back.

The only sound in the room is the culmination of sleep-laden breaths.

Training tomorrow, bright and early. Great, just what he needs. Something twinges in Chiro's palms and between his eyebrows.

All ages and all types rest at Paralladoll. The planet is like a fishbowl with everything else on the outside distorted—the views, the languages. Heck, the boy's been told a robot _monkey_ once learned here, ironically. Chiro laughs at the concept of robot monkeys.

"Hey," they—those that talked—would always say, "it's called the 'Power _Primate_', right?"

And Chiro would cross his arms and say, "Uh-huh, sure." He doesn't understand why the power's a _primate_, but okay.

Chiro tells himself, _Two weeks. Just two weeks. Nothing I can't handle, right? I mean, I've been here for fourteen years already, right?_

Fourteen years. Ever since he was a baby and couldn't even wash himself. Fourteen years, and the Power Primate still eludes his mind.

How could he betray Master Zan? Master Zan, the guy that mentored him? Watched over him?

A surrogate father to an unwanted orphan.

A surrogate father with a crystalline mask.

(Oh-too-sacred for his—or any, really—eyes, apparently.)

Still—he washed Chiro's fat baby tears away and everything. They all probably did, at one time; apparently, Chiro wasn't normal enough for the rest of the eight-foot people and the bird kiddies with fishbowls on their heads. Was just different enough to not get integrated into such an, er, _interesting _family unit.

High maintenance, Chiro thought they meant. Trouble. Kept to himself—too weird, too strange.

Most of the acolytes were those who volunteered to come to Paralladoll to study under the Veran-Mystics; they weren't dragged here in the arms of the Veran-Mystics, wailing and ill with blood crusted at their hairlines.

When he arrived, somebody informs Master Zan: It's not his blood. Zan replied, pressing a finger against the child's stained temple, and he already knows whose blood it is.

The boy exhales, forehead scrunched. _No, not betrayal. Change in scenery, s'all it is._

An escape.

Chiro lets out a gasp, and somebody _shh_s him again.

Rainbow colors skitter across the domed ceiling. Pulsating energy. Nobody stirs, not even the acolytes . . . .

But Chiro's tongue feels like it's on fire. His head—

And it's over, everything now a serene black or dull, deep blue.

The boy drifts off in the lulling breaths of those surrounding him.


End file.
